Let Me Love You
by alyssajdancer
Summary: Meredith and Derek AU. After years of separation, high school sweethearts Meredith Grey and Derek Shepherd reunite one night in a New York City bar and sparks fly. Will their love be rekindled?
1. Chapter 1

**This story is Meredith and Derek, AU. Basically Meredith and Derek were high school sweethearts. Derek is a hot-shot neurosurgical attending, but Meredith is a big-time New York fashion designer. After years of separation, they run into each other again, and sparks fly. **

Derek Shepherd ran his hands through his hair as he ran through the warm rain falling on New York City that night. After a long shift and losing a patient, all he could think about was a drink, a desperately needed drink. This clinical trial he was heading was not helping his stress level either. Walking into the bar, across from the hospital, he took a seat at the far end of the bar and ordered his usual: a double scotch, single malt.

Across the city, Meredith Grey groaned in frustration. Lately, it seemed like she lacked any inspiration for designing, and with awards season rearing its ugly head, this may have been the worst possible time for her designer's block to hit. After years of hard work and grueling internships, Meredith had finally begun to make a name for herself in the New York fashion industry. After designing a stunning gown for last year's Tony Awards for Tony Nominee Laura Osnes, Meredith's fashion business went through the roof. When Osnes had won the Tony, everyone wanted to know who designed her show-stopping dress, and this season, requests were pouring in for Meredith to design gowns for red carpets all over the city. Throwing her stylus down and turning off her design tablet, Meredith snatched her trench coat from its hook, threw her designer bag over her shoulder, and went outside to hail a taxi to take her to her favorite bar in New York.

Derek sat with an elbow on the bar, swirling his scotch in its glass. He found himself staring at the various women entering the bar, and if he was being completely honest, he wouldn't mind getting laid that night. A good one-night stand could take his mind off of his incredibly stressful job, but so far none of the women were sparking his interest. On the verge of giving up, Derek knocked back the remainder of his drink and prepared to leave the bar. But as he turned to the door, he found himself staring at a face from his past. A face he hadn't seen in years, but one he never stopped thinking about.

Meredith Grey pulled her dark trench coat off and placed it on the coatrack located just inside the door of the bar. She quickly took a seat at the bar.

"Tequila, Joe"

"Long day at the studio, Grey?" Joe the bartender asked. Meredith was one of his better known customers, and he knew that a glass of wine or a beer meant she was simply out for the night, but tequila meant it had been a hard day at work or a problem in her love life.

"Ugh, the longest. Red carpet season is sneaking up on me fast, but I can't seem to find any inspiration. I just sit there and stare at pictures of my customers, and thousands of fabric swatches, but nothing clicks. I'm just frustrated."

"Well, just relax for now. Something will come to you, it always does. In the meantime, there is a hot guy in a red shirt who has been staring at you since you walked in, and he is finally coming over to talk to you."

Meredith turned to see who this mystery guy was and found herself face to face with her high school sweetheart, the only guy she had ever truly loved, none other than Derek Shepherd.

"Derek?"

"Hi Meredith," Derek said, taking a seat next to her. They hadn't seen each other in years. Meredith had cut off the relationship their freshman year of college. The long distance relationship was just too much, and she felt that it just wasn't going to work with him in Maine at Bowdoin and her at Parsons in New York. They rarely saw each other between the distance, different friends, and internships. She felt them drift apart, and thought the relationship was hurting them too much. Meredith had broken it off with Derek, despite the hole it left in her heart. She had dated off and on since then, but nothing long-term or that left her the way Derek always had. Likewise, Derek had his own string of one-night stands, but had never found anyone he even remotely wanted to commit to.

Meredith found herself speechless, her heart racing in her chest. She quickly flipped her shot glass over to signal to Joe that she needed another one. He poured it, and she threw it back the second he put it down, requesting a third. Derek also requested a refill on his drink.

"So what's your story?" Derek asked with a smile, the effects of the alcohol beginning to make their way through his system.

"Me?" Meredith slurred, the tequila having quickly left her intoxicated, "I don't have a story. I'm just a girl in a bar."

"Then I'm just a guy in a bar."

After another round of drinks for them both, Meredith turned to Derek and gave him a big, drunken smile. "Wanna come home with me?"

"What do you think?" Derek smirked.

"I think you do," Meredith said, standing up, grabbing her purse and his hand. Derek miraculously remembered to stop at the bar, and threw down money to cover both of their drinks for the night. He helped her into her coat, and led her up the stairs where he hailed a taxi. Meredith managed to tell the driver her address through her drunken stupor, and soon they were racing through the streets of New York, past the lights of Broadway and on through the fashion district, headed towards Meredith's studio apartment.

They had only gone about two blocks before Meredith threw herself into Derek's lap, completely surrendering herself to the sexual tension that had been building since they laid eyes on each other. Tongues battled, and hands groped as they released emotions that had lain dormant for years. Neither noticed the taxi had arrived at its destination until the taxi driver cleared his throat in annoyance, clearly wanting his fare and for the two horny adults to exit his cab. Derek threw the money at the driver and jumped out of his side of the car, stumbling around to the other to open Meredith's door. She fumbled for the keys and let them into the building.

The couple stumbled to the elevator, Derek's arms wrapped around Meredith's body, and he fought hard to resist the urge to pull the stop button and take her right there in the elevator. When they finally made it inside Meredith's apartment, Derek slammed the door behind them and pushed Meredith up against the door. He pressed kisses to every inch of her exposed skin. Clothing was torn off and thrown across the room as Derek guided Meredith to the couch, rarely coming up for air as they went.

"Take me for a ride, Derek," Meredith called out, as the first of many rounds that would last well into the morning, began.


	2. Chapter 2

**I don't own the show :( **

The next morning, Meredith woke up on her couch, confused and cold. Only then did she realize that only a blanket covered her, and there was a man laying on her floor. The memories of last night came flooding back all at once: the bar, lots of tequila, the making out, and the sex, the mind-blowingly good sex. With Derek. Derek, the man she hadn't seen in over ten years, the man she still considered herself hopelessly in love with. She hadn't ever admitted that to anyone, ever. She barely admitted it to herself. But here he was. What was he even doing here? Last she heard, he was moving to Seattle and she had surrendered herself to the fact that she would never see him again. Yet here he was. Was fate finally allowing her a long-awaited second chance?

Derek awoke to a pillow being thrown onto his ass. His naked ass. The memory of last night came back to him immediately. Meredith. The moment he had seen her walk into that bar, his heart stopped. He hadn't seen her in what seemed like a lifetime. God, he had missed her. He had missed the way she smelled, the way her body felt in his hands, the way they could talk about anything. He wondered what she was doing in New York. He couldn't remember what she had decided to do for a career. He knew she wanted art when she had headed off for college, but beyond that, he didn't have a clue.

"Ummm…uh…good morning," Meredith managed to get out as she fought to keep herself as covered as possible with her blanket. One-night stands so were not her thing. In fact, other than one horrific experience with a former boyfriend she had dumped soon after, Meredith had never had sex with anyone but Derek. Her heart was racing as she looked for her clothes, finally managing to find her panties and bra and his boxers, which she quickly tossed over her shoulder to Derek.

Sensing her discomfort, Derek pulled on his boxers and his tee shirt, as Meredith ran into her bedroom. After redressing in his red button-down shirt and black pants, he found Meredith's coffee pot and began making a pot before taking a seat at her island. Meredith soon reemerged wearing a pair of dark-wash jeans and a lavender cashmere sweater.

"Would you like something for breakfast?" Meredith offered, "I still can't cook, but I have cereal or some muffins?"

Derek smirked, remembering many times when Meredith had attempted to cook, but failed miserably, nearly burning down the kitchen on more than one occasion. "What kind of muffins?"

"Umm…I think I have blueberry, corn, or chocolate chip. My friend Izzie owns a bakery so she is constantly trying out recipes on me or giving me leftovers, so I have lots of muffins."

"I'll have a blueberry muffin if you have one," Derek said with a smile.

"Do you still eat all that healthy crap?" Meredith asked teasingly, as she poured two cups of coffee, and took out the muffins, blueberry for him and chocolate chip for her.

"Yes, I do. Keeps me in top form." Derek replied, laughing, before taking a sip of his coffee. "You remembered how I take my coffee."

"I guess I did!" Meredith smiled, a fond, nostalgic look on her face as she sat down next to Derek. "It just kind of came back to me like it was second nature."

After a long pause, Derek asked, "So what have you been up to, Mer? It's been what, ten years?"

"Yeah, I guess it has. Well, I went to Parsons here in New York, and after what seems like an endless number of internships, I've finally opened my own design studio and I actually have my own store now too and I'm hoping to expand soon, maybe open a second location somewhere else in New York City, but I actually specialize in formal gowns, I'm actually considering starting designs for wedding dresses and prom gowns, but anyway. I designed a dress for Laura Osnes at the Tony's last year, and now a bunch of celebrities want me to design for them, but I have this creative block and I spent the whole day in my studio just staring at fabric and a blank page, which is how I found myself needing tequila last night, and subsequently ran into you."

Derek smiled at the way Meredith's eyes lit up as she spoke. He could tell she was incredibly passionate about her work, and he found himself being incredibly proud of her success.

"What about you, Derek? Now that I've had my rant, I want to hear about your life. Did you stick with the medical path? I know you wanted that since…" she trailed off, kicking herself for bringing up Derek's touchiest subject.

"Since my dad was killed," Derek finished for her. Meredith had been his rock through that time in his life, but he didn't talk to anyone about it, not even her. "But yes, I did. After Bowdoin I went to Columbia for medical school, then did my internship and residency at Seattle Grace out in Washington. After that I moved back here to New York for my fellowship in neurosurgery and now I hold an attending position there, and I'm working on this big clinical trial on Alzheimer's."

"Wow, so you're a big hot-shot neurosurgeon now," Meredith said, suddenly feeling a pang of nostalgia.

"Mer," he said, automatically returning to his nickname for her, "You're accomplishments are amazing and something to be incredibly proud of. I'm in awe of all you have accomplished. I can see you judging yourself in comparison to me. We both followed our passions and we are both doing amazing things, so stop."

"How do you still manage to read me like an open book? You're the only person who has ever been able to know when something is wrong," Meredith said with a shy smile, "But that isn't it. You said you are working on a trial for Alzheimer's?"

"Yes, I am. Why?" 

"Umm…my mom passed away a little over a year ago. She had early onset Alzheimer's. I know we didn't have a great relationship, but I still miss her a lot. And now I'm afraid that I'll get it too, but I don't really want to talk about this."

"Oh, Mer," Derek said, his voice and his face full of sympathy, "I'm so sorry."

"So, um," Meredith interrupted, trying to avoid going further into the subject, "I have to ask, even though I'm not sure I want to know the answer, how has your love life been?"

"Oh, Mer. There hasn't been anyone like you. I've had two fairly serious girlfriends, Addison and Rose, but neither was what I was looking for. Neither were you. Other than those two, I've only really had one-night stands, granted more than my fair share, but that's it. So now I have to ask about you."

"Umm…I had one serious boyfriend, Finn. He is the only one I ever had sex with, and it was awful, really truly awful. He was really bad in bed, and I took that as a sign that we probably wouldn't work out, so I broke it off. Other than that I've been on a few dates, but not many. So that's it." 

"Okay. Thank you. I'm glad we are being open with each other. I have to get going though. My shift starts in a half-hour."

"Oh, okay. I should get to the studio too. Ummm, do you have any plans for tonight? I have two tickets to a show whose star I'm dressing for the Tony's. I was going to just go alone, but if you're around…"

"I'm supposed to get off at 5, so if I don't get called into a surgery, I would love to go. I will call you to confirm once I find out. If we have the time, can I take you out to dinner first?" 

"I would love that. The curtain goes up at eight. It is Idina Menzel's new show If/Then. She has hired me to dress her for the Tony's, and she is nominated for the Best Actress in a Musical Tony, so this is big. Plus she is crazy famous, so I'm hoping I'm inspired by her performance."

"Sounds good to me. I know this great little restaurant near Broadway. I'm going to go home and change after my shift, since all I have with me is scrubs and the clothes from last night, which aren't exactly appropriate. Can I meet you at your studio?"

"Sure," Meredith replied as she wrote down her studio's address. "See you tonight, hopefully."

"Oh, I have the people there wrapped around my finger. I'll make sure I get out on time. I can always pass it off to a fellow. They are still dying for the experience. Sometimes, they can hover worse than the interns."

"Okay," Meredith said with a laugh, "I'll see you tonight."

"See you tonight," Derek said with his signature smile as he walked out the door.

"Yes!" Meredith screamed as she threw herself on the bed, full of happiness.

Derek stood outside her door laughing, having heard her little outburst of excitement. No matter what, he was making sure tonight happened.


End file.
